Tybee Island City Council drops alcohol ban proposal

Despite concerns, Tybee Island will not be banning alcohol on the beach. Photo via publicdomainpictures.net

Caleb Bailey, Sports Editor

For years, tourists and beachgoers have been allowed to openly drink on Tybee Island. The Tybee Island City Council met Wednesday, April 6 to discuss a possible ban on open-air containers and it was eventually shot down by unanimous vote.

This turns out to be a good business move for the city council to make with Orange Crush, an annual party taking place on the beach, beginning Friday, April 15. It is predicted that this will bring more business to beachside bars such as Wet Willie’s and North Beach Bar and Grill.

The Orange Crush festivities were the biggest reason why the ban was thrown out and it does not look like it will be coming back anytime soon.

“It needs some more attention. It needs more time given to it, to give it more time to study it, more time to get more public input on it,” Tybee Councilman Barry Brown said at the Wednesday meeting.

Councilwoman Julie Livingston explained that the weekend-long Orange Crush event, which has been notorious for resulting in more arrests than the entire year combined, would still go on whether the alcohol was permitted or not.

“If we can take alcohol out of the equation… the event’s not being discouraged at this point, we’re still going to have to deal with it, it’s still going to go on, but it is going to more than likely improve the safety issues for the chief and others,” Livingston said.

The dropped proposal does not mean this is the end of the push to ban alcohol. Many believed that this would be the best thing for the city to do, but it certainly will not be coming in the near future.